


If the Sky Should Tumble and Fall

by Ha_YouWish



Series: People Change [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, No KH3 spoilers, Riku blames himself, i could never guess the bullshit that runs through nomura's head, kh3 predictions??? sort of???, something is going on with sora, vanitas Knows about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 23:37:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15874041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ha_YouWish/pseuds/Ha_YouWish
Summary: Riku never noticed how much Sora had changed, until it was too late.Prequel to "Felt It Let Go of Me" set in Riku's point of view. Has a bit of my kh3 predictions but I honestly have no idea what's gonna happen.





	If the Sky Should Tumble and Fall

**Author's Note:**

> title inspired by the song "Stand by Me"

Riku hadn't noticed the change at first. When Ventus was freed, he hadn't noticed the times Sora would catch his fall behind to catch his breath or when he slept in so late. When Roxas was freed, he hadn't noticed the bags underneath Sora’s eyes, only the faraway look they held. When Xion was freed, he had started to notice the way Sora constantly excused himself and stuck close to the side of whoever was close enough to reach.

 

He had noticed the change too late. They all did.

 

It's an ambush at the keyblade graveyard. They call for backup, thankful for their new cross-world communicators but unprepared for the fight this early. Of course they’re outnumbered, that’s a part of Xehanort’s plan after all.  

They’re able to defeat three of them thanks to a few well timed strikes from Aqua and Riku himself. The light of a heart-shaped moon shines upon their battlefield, and under it, a choked scream rips its way through. As a collective, the side of Light looks towards where it came from.

The sight of Xehanort, with his hand on Sora’s throat and the χ-blade pointed high at the sky makes another scream heard, but this one of anger is from Riku. He sprints away from his own fight, dodging around quick attempts to keep him from getting close.

His hand reaches out, his magic buzzing on the end of his keyblade with no honorable intentions of leaving the target of his rage alive. He’s almost there, so close to getting to his best friend.

But a blinding light covers everything and anything. No, it's not Light, it doesn't feel like it. Light is powerful and warm, like a strong hug full of love and acceptance. Light is easy to control and nice to the touch.

But it's not Darkness, which clings to his entire being with a cool, slippery, and unfathomable power that could easily fall from his grasp if he doesn't handle it carefully.

It isn't Nothingness, because the feeling of an empty void and freezing cold that has unlimited potential to be something(to be anything) is distinctive and nothing like this.

This, though, pulses and pushes against his skin. The something else seeps deep into his bones and stays there, swirling around coldly like it’s attached to him. It’s uncomfortable, but not probingly invasive. It’s overwhelming, but not uncontrollable.

Like a tearful hug of forgiveness and promise after a confession of wrongdoing.

It's… Everything.

For a second, he thinks he can hear music, steadily playing like the rhythm of a heartbeat.

Then his vision goes dark and blank.

_“The door… has opened.”_

_“Sora!”_

Riku misses the feeling of safety the Everything filled him with, but misses something else a lot more.

_"̵͢T̵̕͢h̷̶͠͝-͠͝ ̡̨͜d͡͏̷̵o͡.̷̴͢͡.҉͘͞.̧̛̕...̵̴̨͡ ͏̶̴̧-͞-̴̨ą̶͡͞s̵̵ ͘͝͞o̶͡p͜͝͝e̛̕͏-҉̵҉̶̛.̶͡͠͏.҉̛͘.͟͡͝"҉͟_

_“-̴̵̸̧͠r̸̵̢a̸̛!͏͏̕”_

Riku jumps up, keyblade in hand, immediately taking in his surroundings. Next to him are the bodies of the rest of the Guardians of Light, his friends. Their all alive, thankfully, and Riku knows their only lucky no one isn't.

He finds Sora collapsed on the ground a little ways away and runs over, checking his pulse and relaxing only slightly when he finds the weak but steady beating of his heart.

 

Really, he should've noticed it then, being able to actually tell the state of Sora's heart struggling to maintain itself without the protection it has always had.

 

Riku can't see or sense any enemies, but he can't find it in himself to relax at all. Very soon, the others begin to rise and start asking questions.

He can't answer them, he doesn't know what happened to Sora either.

They have a meeting in Yen Sid's tower afterwards with everyone, Sora excluded due to not being awake yet. They all go over what they think happened.

Riku can't help but feel like he has to bring up the Everything, because everyone seems to be avoiding the topic.

“The Everything?” Yen Sid asks with a raised eyebrow.

“The sort of Not-Light that happened at the end. I don't know what it is or what happened when I felt it, but it was kinda…” How could he out it perfectly into words? The safety of something completely unknown with the an underlying feeling of something mysterious.

“It felt like honesty, if that makes sense,” he explains, “Like I was shown who I am from the view of everything I've never seen or known about myself.”

He doesn't really know if he can believe the Everything about who he really is, but he can clearly remember what he felt, how different it was from anything he's ever known. It's different and strange, but it's easy for him to adapt to, due to how much he's already learned about himself already.

Riku suddenly realizes why everyone else avoided this topic. He awkwardly plays with his wrist brace under the eyes of everyone else in the room.

“This is a very intriguing circumstance,” Yen Sid says after thinking for a long minute, “This happened to each of you, correct?”

A chorus of nods come from all those who were at the fight.

“I believe what happened might've been the power of Kingdom Hearts, though I do not know exactly how it might've changed each of your hearts. However, we cannot rest just yet to completely figure it out. We do not know what must've happened to Xehanort and his Darknesses during that time, but we must not let our guard down until we know for sure that he is gone.”

For a two months after the battle, everyone stays on edge, searching for the enemy. Sora stays in his in a coma, with the cause being completely unknown. Riku’s best friend is asleep again, but this time he has no idea why. It's frustrating.

“He goes out of his way to save _all of us_ ,” he vents to Kairi on a particularly hopeless day, “It just isn't _fair._ ”

“Our lives haven't been fair for years, Riku,” there are tears in her eyes, but they don't fall, “But he’ll wake up soon, I know he will. We just have to believe and take every chance we get. He's going to wake up, he has to.”

Their chance soon came in the form of Vanitas. He doesn't put up a fight, he just walks along with the patrol group until they notice him.

“I'm not forced by that bastard to be a part of his damn war fantasies anymore,” Vanitas says with what sounds like relief, “If you let me see the kid, I could help him. I kinda owe someone that.”

Apparently “the kid" means Sora, who is still asleep in the infirmary. After careful debating and Ven saying that Vanitas wasn't lying about his intentions, they allow him in with two armed chaperones. Riku’s one of them, Aqua the other.

Vanitas takes one look at Sora and scoffs, moving his hands up to his head and slowly taking off his helmet.

Riku has never seen his face before, and had assumed he just didn't have one. So you can't really blame him for taking a few steps back when he sees that he has _Sora's face_ with darker hair and golden eyes.

“I still can't believe this idiot’s the one who gave me a face," Vanitas says, completely ignoring both Riku and Aqua's reactions.

Vanitas steps toward the bed, reaching out with his hand above Sora's chest. He snatches something out of thin air. It's a light pink and kinda translucent shard of something.

“This is what's been blocking his recovery, he should wake up in a couple of days,” he flicks his hand and the shard disappears. “Tell him to come find me when he stops being a dumbass.”

And with that rather rude message, Vanitas quickly disappears in a small black portal, too fast for he or Aqua to catch him.

Sora wakes up three days later, but he’s different. It doesn't matter to Riku and Kairi because they're just happy to see their friend awake again.

 

He should've noticed when he relayed Vanitas’s message, with the way Sora _froze_ and a brief look of pain crossing his features.

 

Life goes into a routine, now that they're pretty sure that Xehanort isn't coming back. Lea still looks for his friend Isa, with help and support from Roxas and Xion.

The three of them return to Destiny Islands with Naminé as well. Naminé decides to make a living with her art, it's amazing to see what she can do when she has so much art supplies on her hands and subjects other than memories. Her room is colorful, with bright paint splashes on the walls, no longer subjected to the oppressive white.

Riku doesn't see Vanitas again, but Sora's mom mentions him stopping by to visit her once in a while. He _had_ said that he owed someone.

Terra, Aqua, and Ven go back to the Land of Departure, hoping to open a school there.

The Ki- Mickey, Donald, and Goofy go back to Disney Town.

Riku thinks that maybe life might be okay again. Sure they all have unwanted memories and nightmares, but they all still have lives ahead of them.

 

He never realized that Sora's nightmares are the worst out of all of them. He never realized how much of a front he puts on in front of all of them.

Until Sora leaves.

Riku should have realized. He really wishes he did.

_"Sora!"_

**Author's Note:**

> So Riku blames himself, if you haven't noticed. Poor children, they get a break and get to live life the way they want, but then I keep on bringing them back to torture them again.
> 
> The whole thing with Kingdom Hearts and Everything is just something I got carried away with, but I can't say I don't like it.
> 
> Constructive criticism is encouraged!


End file.
